Brain cancer research needs $50 billion to find cure

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMay 8 2011

According to one of Australia's leading neurosurgeons a massive increase in funding is needed to find a cure for brain cancer. Brain cancer kills one Australian every eight hours. About 1,400 cases of malignant brain cancer are diagnosed in Australia every year and about 1,100 people die from the disease.

Doctor Charlie Teo says an extra $50 billion of funding over the next five decades is needed to help find a cure for brain cancer as he spoke at the start of Brain Cancer Action week, an initiative designed to create more awareness about the disease which kills more children than any other form of cancer. “Most people are dead within a year of diagnosis of brain cancer, and that includes children…And it is the most common solid cancer in kids - it actually kills more kids than any other cancer,” he said. The aggressive disease is the leading cause of cancer death in people aged under 40 and accounts for more than one third of cancer deaths in children aged under 10. It has an almost 100 per cent fatality rate.

“It will take $50 billion over the next 30 to 50 years to find a cure for brain cancer but we need some significant funds injected now if we are to see any reduction in brain cancer related deaths…Once diagnosed, patients have just a five per cent chance of surviving this extremely aggressive disease. Most die within 12 months. People continue to believe that cancer is a disease that strikes as you get older. I saw 23 patients last week. Twenty were diagnosed with malignant brain cancer. Eight of those diagnosed were under 16 years old,” he said.

Dr Teo, who is professor of neurosurgery at the University of New South Wales, says urgent federal funding is needed. “Although it's an uncommon cancer it has more impact on society than any other cancer…And yet despite that, it receives the least amount of funding of all the cancers. We believe that with funding we can find a cure. At the moment what we're doing unfortunately is just telling people no, sorry we can't cure you - we can buy you a bit of time but we can't cure you,” he said.

NSW Cancer Council chief executive Dr Andrew Penman said brain cancer remained the least understood of all the cancers and there had been no significant improvement to survival rates in almost two decades. More research would make a difference, Dr Penman said. “Look at leukemia, which killed 90 per cent of patients just 15 years ago…The figure has now turned on its head with a survival rate of 90 per cent due to funds for research. Brain Cancer Action Week aims to be instrumental in offering brain cancer patients a similar turn around in survival rates,” he said. “Risk factors of brain cancer are unknown and there are no screening procedures in place. Until we have the funds for more research, the survival rate will not improve,” Perman said.